How To Step Up Your Money Game in 2018

11 Key Steps To Grow Your Net-worth

Growing your net worth is a choice, you have to choose what you want, plan how you want it and take consistent actions towards achieving it. It’s all you, only you can make the choice now to grow your net worth.

READ ON IF you finally want to learn doable ways you can grow your net worth from scratch. I came up with valuable resources you can use. Remember, reading through will give you good ideas on how to achieve this, but good ideas won’t grow your net worth, only taking action by completing each the task can do so.

If you want to reach a higher money target, do one thing: Create a better plan than you did before. Goodplanning is key to unlocking your money growth. Maybe you haven’t made any plan or set any goal before, learn how to create goals & reach your targets here.

Extraordinary people do the “extra” things ordinary people don’t do. Start doing the “extra” things today by following these steps:

Step 1. Evaluate your net worth

The first and most important place to START in any money growth process is to know where you are before you can move to where you want to be. And you can achieve that with knowledge of what your net worth is.

In order for you to grow your money, growing your net worth should be your primary goal. And to grow your net worth, you have to understand what “NET WORTH” means and how to calculate yours.

Your Net worth = (Asset owned) – (liability)

• Your assetis anything of value owned by you which can be converted into cash. Examples are tangible assets; cash, buildings, personal property and other intangible assets; patents, bonds, stocks, computer programs and so on.

If your assets are greater than your debts, you have a POSITIVE net worth and if your debts are greater than your assets you have a NEGATIVE net worth (the reason debts should be dropped)

Knowing your net worth gives you:• an idea of what you actually have and not what you think you have• a wake-up call if you are not on track• the financial evaluation needed to track your targets and the motivation to achieve your money goals

A knowledge of your net worth also helps you to cut debts, save & invest more to build up your net worth. It’s important you keep track of your net worth always to build up your financial wings and cut down liabilities.

Step 2. Set a 5-year money target (your financial plan)

Time flies, I bet you can recall where you were financially 5 years ago or where you hoped you would be by now. The beautiful thing is that you can decide now what the product of your next five years would be, you can dream big about it and work towards your targets.

But the big question here is “What do you want your net worth to be in the next five years?”

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

– CHINESE PROVERB

If you don’t have a financial plan at this moment, get on the train of financial stability by making one now!

Task:1. Know what you want. Make a list of what you want to achieve in the next five years.2. Write down your target net worth in the next five years (such as “I want to be worth $20,000, $50,000, $250,000, or $1 million by the 1st of May, 20__) anything you know you want to achieve.3. Write down possible income sources, ideas or skills you need to work on (businesses, investments, stock, services you can offer and get paid) towards achieving your 5-year target4. Create smaller targets to achieve the bigger targets (example: weekly targets to achieve monthly targets or monthly targets to achieve yearly targets)

Step 3. Know your sacrifices

Every goal has its short-term sacrifice, nothing good comes easy. Some people sacrifice 4 or 5 years and a lot of money for college to learn a skill or earn a certificate that will provide for them for a lifetime, some work hard and save up for years to start-up a dream business.

To achieve your money targets you’ll need to understand the principle of making short term sacrifices for long term rewards. Know your sacrifices and be ready for them.

Task: Make a list of things or the lifestyle you’ll have to sacrifice to meet your targets. Such as time-wasting activities, money consuming activities, unproductive activities, sometimes good activities or things you don’t really need at this point. Take your time and make a list now.

Step 4. Use your motivations

Successful people are motivated by something that makes them want to achieve more. Working towards your money target will get tiring along the way, most people lose focus, and some get discouraged or drop out along the way to success. This is where your motivation backup steps in energize and inspire you to push till the finish line.

Task :• Make a list of what is motivating you towards achieving your money target.• Write down five or more rewards of achieving your financial targets. (the benefits of reaching your targets)• And also write what you’ll reward yourself with at the end of each month and each year when you achieve each target.

Step 5. Save a fraction of your income

Saving part of your income is an important part of your future financial security. Saving won’t make you rich, it’s there for future use or unforeseen circumstances. The habit of saving also teaches you more about money than you think, how to limit your expenses and enables you to make the best use of what is left after saving.

Task:• Open separate savings account different from the bank account where you make your daily expenses (ask your bank for a money account with the best returns on long-term savings)• Record the total of your weekly or monthly income• And Choose a fraction of your income that will go into your new savings account every week or month

Step 6. Never forget to create a monthly budget

You’ll need to master the habit of creating monthly money budget. Budgeting is the most important step after planning, it makes sure funds are evenly allocated to all your monthly expenses, savings, investments and more. Budgeting can simply be described as “the plan you make on how your money will be spent”.

Here are reasons why budgeting is key in financial stability:• Keeps you focused on your money targets• Helps in fair allocation of your income to satisfy your various needs• Eliminates unnecessary expenses• Eliminates debts, since your expenses and savings are well planned within your means to satisfy you needs

Task: Start creating a monthly budget at the start of every month. Make sure to allocate funds to save up for any investment or business you plan on doing. Always have an extra allocation in your budget for unforeseen expenses.

Step 7. Invest your money

Your money will grow at a slow rate or at zero rates if you keep them in the bank or in your safe but making good investments can give you the best returns.

If you’re wondering about how or where you can invest your money, here are ways to find• Seek for investment advice from a financial expert on available options• Research and look for good opportunities to invest your money.

“Learning is a great investment. Learn a valuable skill and monetize your skill. “

Some investment ideas are bonds, real estate and equity shares with an expectation of capital appreciation, dividends, and interest earnings. Others are wine, precious metals and some financial assets such as commodities, hedge funds, film production and a lot more.

You can create a business where you can invest your money, offer good services or products and grow with time.

Step 8. Start a business

You can always start a side or full-time business to bring in more income. We all have good ideas or skills that will benefit other people. Invest some amount of money or time into perfecting it and you can start offering your services or products under your brand and get paid.

Business is a good investment because you can start small and grow big with time. With hard work and creativity, your business will bring in huge returns.

Task:• Write down business ideas you’ve had or the new ones you find interesting• Pick out the one you can work on now• Make a research on the requirements. The skills you need to learn or hire, the fund and time you will need to invest and much more.• Find a mentor you can learn from, someone who is successful in what you are trying to achieve or a related successful business. Study their approach and apply a few while adding yours too.

Step 9. Educate yourself

Several notable people have left their jobs because they earn better income by providing good services using skills they learned, graphic designers, piano tutors, bloggers, web designers, programmers, freelancers and so on.

Self-education is the best investment you can make.

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
– Jim Rohn

Step 10. Drop debts

From the first step in this list, we learned that debt is a liability and it lowers our net worth, and our main aim here is to increase our net worth. Therefore debts should be dropped entirely or lowered to the least.

Good debts can generate more income over time, such as education loan, real estate, small business or investments. Bad debts generate no income but depreciate with time, such as loan to buy a vehicle, clothes, credit cards loans, consumables and so on.

“Never spend your money before you have it”
– Thomas Jefferson

Task: DROP Debts. It takes more money from the future income. It is a bad habit, it encourages you to spend more than you can afford. Making good monthly money budgets eliminates debts.

Step 11. Adjust your expenses

One of the best ways to grow your money is to spend less and save more money by cutting down monthly expenses. You’ll be thrilled on how much you can save in a month if you cut down on your bills and expenses a bit.

You can find ways to cut unnecessary expenses and billings. Maybe by optimizing your electrical usage, car fuel consumption, water bills, mobile, internet & cable bills and a few more. You can research for a more affordable alternative plan or device. READ: 21 Best Money Saving Tips for more ways on how to cut down bills & expenses.

Conclusion

Remember: 50% of growing your net worth is “planning” and “setting money target” and the other 50% is taking consistent actions towards your target.
Do this and you’re half way to your financial success, or leave it and just hope for the best.

“You will succeed because most people are lazy.”

–SHAHIR ZAG

Take out a little time to plan and set targets that will lead you to financial freedom.
A Few HOURS of sacrifice, years of satisfaction and reward!

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